Overclock.net banner

Retiring Sponsored Content Fees on Overclock.net

21K views 68 replies 37 participants last post by  ENTERPRISE 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Years ago, Overclock.net implemented a program in which we lifted our longtime ban on sponsored content being posted within the community. This program allowed for sponsored content (content with a commercial influence, either via direct financial contributions from a third party or contributions of hardware, etc) to be posted in the community with a special tag for a nominal fee. The fee was deliberately small in order to keep the program accessible, and was present because we believed we were up against a matter of principle - sponsored content inherently has commercial purpose, and it felt wrong to us to allow sponsored content to be posted in the community without a financial penalty to emphasize that, yes, sponsored content is advertising. This was not our most successful content policy. The program was controversial from the start, and despite our efforts to reduce the fee and encourage members to explain our position to the brands who were sponsoring them, remained controversial throughout its lifetime.

Quite simply, the policy we created as a compromise between our principles as community leaders and our community members' desires to share sponsored content was not successful. We created a compromise which penalized content creators for a very common (and now, widely accepted) industry practice, and this has not been good for anyone involved.

As a result, we are retiring our sponsored content fee program. This change means the following:

  1. Sponsored content can now be posted in the community without any fee
  2. Sponsored content must still be tagged as [Sponsored] in the thread title, and must still be posted within special "Sponsored" forum areas in order to remain compliant with the FTC's Disclosure Guidelines
  3. Sponsored content which is posted outside of the designated areas, or in which the content creator failed to disclose the sponsored / commercial relationship of their content, will be aggressively removed

Members who paid a sponsored content fee after July 1, 2016 can contact us for a refund of their sponsored content fee. Members who paid prior to July 1, 2016 cannot be refunded, but may contact us for additional advertising for your sponsored content.

The FTC maintains a detailed FAQ about sponsorship and product promotion on the internet here: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking

The advertising landscape of the last few years has made it abundantly clear that sponsorship and "native" advertising is here to stay, and the industry is only moving further in this direction with each passing year. We will continue to be vigilant in our pursuit of crystal-clear identification of the various commercial interests behind a content contribution, and encourage everyone to read the FTC's great guidelines for how to responsibly disclose your commercial relationships with the brands who support you.

Our hope is that by making this revision to our policies we avoid penalizing the most talented members of the overclocking, case modding, and hardware review communities at large; and ensure that Overclock.net can be your trustworthy and bias-free destination for discussion of the best content on the internet, whether sponsored or not.
 
See less See more
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by huzzug View Post

B-Neg is now officially let loose
biggrin.gif
Hahahahahaha!!!!

I always thought it was crazy and very vocal about it too. I consider OCN my 'home',I link here and add content all the time and yet...we had to pay a charge for no definable service.

Now we just need to fix the logs scattered in every subforum into one place,so many decent builds squeak by because they are in a random sub....

OCN did well this day.

Also,can some one move this for me? http://www.overclock.net/t/1605575/sponsored-milspec-ii-a-caselabs-bh4-build/0_20
 
#7 ·
Indeed it's a goo day for novice and experienced modders alike since the sponsorship fee was barring those who were up and coming.

Kudos to the team behind OCN for lifting the iron curtain!!!
thumb.gif
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by B NEGATIVE View Post

Hahahahahaha!!!!

I always thought it was crazy and very vocal about it too. I consider OCN my 'home',I link here and add content all the time and yet...we had to pay a charge for no definable service.

Now we just need to fix the logs scattered in every subforum into one place,so many decent builds squeak by because they are in a random sub....

OCN did well this day.

Also,can some one move this for me? http://www.overclock.net/t/1605575/sponsored-milspec-ii-a-caselabs-bh4-build/0_20
Moved sir
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lutfij View Post

Indeed it's a goo day for novice and experienced modders alike since the sponsorship fee was barring those who were up and coming.

Kudos to the team behind OCN for lifting the iron curtain!!!
thumb.gif
Thank you. We saw that it was time to make a mover in a better direction allowing for better flow of high quality content making OCN THE place to be :)
 
#13 ·
Great news, I wholeheartedly support it. What about reviews/overviews of items sent for review? Is there going to be a separate section for them? Or do people just post them in the appropriate subforums with the [Sponsored] tag in the thread title?
 
#15 ·
Woot indeed. OCN abides!
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by xD3aDPooLx View Post

How does this work for older stuff that was removed?
Great question. I know a lot of Martin's stuff was removed from here, but he ended up editing the content out to comply with the rules then. It would be great to see old content come back, but I guess it is also a ton of work.

Edit: I think @stren was affected by this too? Not sure.
 
#25 ·
Congratulations on having the balls to finally reverse a bad policy. It's not easy to admit mistakes and correct things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by geggeg View Post

Great question. I know a lot of Martin's stuff was removed from here, but he ended up editing the content out to comply with the rules then. It would be great to see old content come back, but I guess it is also a ton of work.

Edit: I think @stren was affected by this too? Not sure.
Yeah they deleted my reviews before too and parts of my build logs. I'd be amazed if they undo anything they've deleted. Nothing got undeleted (or unbanned) when coin talk went from illegal to legal on the forum. Besides it's too much work. I'd be annoyed if I payed the sponsorship fee in june though. The question is whether rules on reviews get relaxed or not that it's worthwhile for me to publish here too. I'd rather have more forum users see the hard work we do, but OCN still makes that hard. Now at least the effort is just time to conform to the rules rather than money and time.

Still on a positive note it's good to see OCN move in the right direction
thumb.gif
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by geggeg View Post

Great news, I wholeheartedly support it. What about reviews/overviews of items sent for review? Is there going to be a separate section for them? Or do people just post them in the appropriate subforums with the [Sponsored] tag in the thread title?
For the moment we will be placing reviews in the reviews section as it stands currently and they will simply be tagged as [SPONSORED]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xD3aDPooLx View Post

How does this work for older stuff that was removed?
That is a good question. Content that was removed in the past was removed in accordance with the rules that were active at that time, as such past content will not actively be restored.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top